272-Bed Catholic Hospital Announces Intent To Join Rush-Copley System

Rush system and Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers on Tuesday announced the rare partnership of the Catholic health care ministry and the nonparochial health system.

In a Tuesday news release, LCMH announced that it had signed a non-binding letter of intent to join the Rush system. Under the proposed arrangement, LCMH would remain a Catholic ministry.

The potential integration is part of LCMH’s long-term strategy to ensure advanced health care for Chicago’s southwest communities and its future growth. Little Company of Mary Hospital, a 272-bed community hospital with more than 2,000 employees, is located in south suburban Evergreen Park.

Michael Dandorph, president of the Rush system and of Rush University Medical Center, said, “Little Company of Mary Hospital is a great organization with deep roots in the community and would be a strong partner as Rush continues to expand the system’s reach throughout the Chicago area. This potential partnership is very important to our overall plans to make clinical, research, and educational resources more accessible to our patients and our physician partners.

“We are excited about the opportunity to work with Little Company of Mary Hospital to expand the delivery of the highest quality, comprehensive services that are coordinated, cost-effective, accessible, and responsive to what individuals, employers, and payors are expecting from health care providers.”

LCMH would become the fourth hospital in the Rush system, which currently includes Rush University Medical Center (Chicago), Rush Oak Park Hospital (Oak Park), and Rush Copley Medical Center (Aurora).

“Little Company of Mary has chosen to pursue a partnership with Rush because it is a resourceful, regional integrated health delivery system anchored by one of the leading academic medical centers in the country,” said Dennis Reilly, president and CEO of LCMH. “Rush shares our commitment to quality and vision for health care in southwest Chicago. We remain dedicated to providing the personalized care that our community has come to expect from Little Company of Mary Hospital.”

Rush historically has worked with many health care providers in the broad Chicago regional market for services in areas such as the neurosciences, cancer, and high-risk infant and obstetrics care. Located on Chicago’s near West Side, Rush has been exploring a number of strategies for making its services and physicians more accessible to patients who come to Rush from a wide area of Illinois and Northwest Indiana.

“As a well-established community hospital with multiple comprehensive outpatient care centers, Little Company of Mary Hospital would enable our system to provide current and future patients with greater access to both primary and specialty care,” said Dr. Larry Goodman, CEO of the Rush system and of Rush University Medical Center. “We share numerous core values, including a focus on high quality care, a commitment to patient safety, and a dedication to the communities we are privileged to serve.”

In March, Rush University Medical Center and Rush Copley Medical Centerreorganized their operations under a common corporate parent led by a board of trustees to oversee the vision and strategy for the Rush system. William Goodyear is the chairman of the Rush system board and of the Rush University Medical Center board.

Sister Sharon Ann Walsh, LCM, American Province Leader of the Little Company of Mary Sisters and the chairperson of the Little Company of Mary Hospital Board of Directors, along with the Little Company of Mary Sisters and LCMH’s board, approved the non-binding letter of intent Monday (Oct. 16, 2017). The Rush system board approved the letter on Sept. 28, and the Archdiocese of Chicago approved it on Sept. 29.

The Archdiocese has been an active guide in this process and recognizes that the Rush system would be able to maintain LCMH’s strong prolife commitment to their Catholic health care ministry.

The proposed integration is subject to further due diligence by both organizations and obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals as they work on a definitive agreement, which is expected to take several months.

“Our sisters have been involved in a long and thoughtful discernment process, and we feel confident that aligning with Rush would allow us to continue to serve our community, as we have for nearly 90 years,” Walsh said. “We have a longstanding bond with our community because of the unwavering commitment of our dedicated physicians, other medical professionals and the devotion of our employees. We look forward to the potential of a stronger future with Rush and the expanded capabilities that we would be able to offer our patients.”

About LCLMH

From routine wellness exams and screenings to advanced diagnostic facilities for even the most critical health conditions, LCMH has served the needs of its community for nearly 90 years. LCMH continues to achieve accolades for quality, provides new medical advances and offers a convenient range of services to its community. For additional information, visit www.LCMH.org.

About Rush

Rush is proud to have more than 11,500 full-time employees, nearly 2,000 employed and private physicians and more than 2,500 students in Rush University. Along with its hospitals, Rush has numerous outpatient facilities throughout the Chicago area. In the last fiscal year, the three system hospitals had a combined annual total of nearly 50,800 patient admissions, 184,000 emergency department visits and one million outpatient visits. More information can be found at www.Rush.edu.